Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0012759, Fri, 26 May 2006 14:08:12 -0400

Subject
Re: Nabokov's use of foreign words
From
Date
Body
Prof Eggenschwiler's LATimes op-piece is quite drole. But, I hope
readers
don't take his

"The success of the [Academie Francaise "purity"] project explains why,
today, the French refuse to understand my schoolboy's French..."

wihout due allowance for irony. French speakers/writers continue to
mock/flount any foredoomed-to-fail attempts to "freeze/regulate" a
living
and infinitely playful language. Indeed, there's a clear logical flaw in
the
quoted proposition. The "schoolboy's" French, following the "academic
blackboard" rules, is likely to be less understood sur les rues
precisely
because l'Academie has _failed_.

Stan Kelly-Bootle

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